Worry Wart
by magostar117
Summary: Human meets Hunter.  A story of befriending the enemy and just trying  to make it out alive.  But how do you do that when you have an overactive  imagination that is only keeping you from your goal : To Survive.
1. Chapter 1 : Stepping outside

I stared at the wooden door, scrutinizing the design quietly. A dark brown barrier divided me from loneliness and insanity. If I stayed on this side of the door, I'll never reach my destination...but if I go to the other side of the door...

I shudder. _It's only a door! I'm staring at a rectangular piece of wood! So what if there are hundreds of human-eating freaks on the other side? I'll just tell them I taste like shit. ...but wait. What if they like shit? Then they'll be all over me! _I shook my head. _No I'm just being ridiculous again. Maybe Sis was right when she said I overanalyze things. ...but maybe that's why I'm still alive. _

My mind made up, I took a step up to the door. I grip the doorknob, look down at my hand, coated in grime and dust, and take a deep breath. I open the door slowly, inch by inch, relieved that it doesn't creak. Peering out at the eerie street before me, I see the place riddled with run down cars and debris. Bodies, steaming with decay, are scattered all across the sidewalk and asphalt, making it difficult to cross without running into one.

I stepped outside and listened.

Wind carried a soft tune through the air and paper flew by to rest at a stop sign down to my left. The sky was gray, whether from smog or decay, I can't tell. A sense of foreboding and misery seem to stream out of my surroundings, urging me to go back the way I came. But that was impossible. What if there was a horde of zombies waiting back at the apartment? Or one of those other creatures Sis told me about, lounging around in the hallways?

No. Too risky. I'll have to take my chances.

And just like that my thoughts were taken back to my _dearest _loving sister_. Pffft. Dearest? More like suicidal. I swear she had a death wish. Always going out, getting herself hurt and banged up. _

_And killed. _

She always had a good reason though. She wanted to help everyone, all the time, sometimes all at once. That led to me getting food poisoning once. I was puking all over the place for three days after that. She had tried to bake cookies for me and my brother and carve raw chicken for the food shelf. At the same time and _place_. Right on the kitchen counter. Somehow while adding sprinkles to the cookies, some raw meat had made its way onto my sugary circles of joy.

That's what she always called them. She was way too optimistic. She used to say I was too negative.

_But she never understood! You never know when danger will strike! You could be walking down the street and then BAM! You're killed in a car accident. You're dead and not even aware of it. _

_I miss her. Violet. _She was four years older than me when she died. That was a week ago…


	2. Chapter 2 : Violet

**FLASHBACK**

"Look, why don't we just make a run for it? If we're fast enough they'll never know we're even there."

"Violet that's crazy! They're probably waiting for us to do that! Why don't we just wait for things to calm down? You can still hear people screaming outside for crying out loud!"

She huffed, "Stop being so antagonistic. We'll be fine. I've seen you run in track. We're faster than most of them."

"Well what happens if we come across the other ones?"

"…"

"Tch. That's what I thought. "

Her face contorted into a mask of rage.

She left the room in a blaze, flinging lamps to the ground and knocking over what few chairs there were. She never did have the best temper.

Though the place we had found to stay was a fairly large apartment, it still felt cramped compared to our old family home. I went out and picked up the chairs and broken lamps. I felt compelled to make the place as nice as possible even though it was more than likely that the owners of the place were never returning.

But what if by some miracle they did? I doubt they'd be thrilled to find all their furniture broken and garbage all over the carpet.

My sister observed my actions and rolled her eyes at me. I glared back and stuck out my tongue in her direction. She threw a couch pillow at me but it completely missed.

I ignored it and headed back to the bedroom where we'd just had our tenth argument today. And it was only noon!

I sighed and sat on the only bed in the room. A lumpy mattress covered with a Mickey Mouse blanket.

I was wearing a simple green hoodie with straps around the elbows and forearms. A pair of ragged, navy blue jeans, also with straps around the knees and calves, covered my legs.

I stared at the floor, which was not pretty I might add. It was filthy with chip bags and milk cartons. Apparently whoever lived here before ingested nothing but sodium and calcium. Whoop-Dee-Do.

I would clean it up but that would just set off another tirade from Violet. She was nice and all but when she gets angry…back off.

Realizing we were getting nowhere with this, I laid back on the bed, exhausted, and dozed off to the sound of screaming on the streets.

* * *

I woke with a start realizing immediately that something was different. I sat up in bed, finding myself covered with a fleece blanket that wasn't there before.

_Seems Violet's back to her old self. Sis is being nice again. She's a real pain when she's mad._

I looked out the battered window at the foot of the bed. It was pitch black outside. You'd need cat eyes to see anything beyond the tree branches hovering two feet beyond the glass pane's threshold. I noted how awfully quiet it had gotten. Hard to believe this was a city under siege against the infected.

I bolted to my feet. The Screaming. It stopped. That's why it was so quiet!

I rushed to the window trying to see anything even though I knew it was pointless. I quickly stepped back though. _What if this is a trap by The Horde? They could just be waiting for me to stick my head outside just so they could…_

I shook my head and made my way to the living room to find Violet. She must've noticed it too. What did she think about the silence?

"Violet?" I called out to her.

The living room was empty aside from the beige couch and the television sitting on a table in front of it.

_She's not here? _

I quickly checked out the rest of the apartment only to find that the rest of the rooms, were indeed, empty.

Violet was gone.

"Oh my god," I whispered into the void apartment, "She actually left me."

I frantically scanned the living room for any sign as to where she may have gone to. But there was nothing. I ran back to the bedroom through the hallway. On the way there my foot caught on something and I tripped onto my stomach, my face meeting a Mickey Mouse plush doll.

_Okay owww. And what is it with this family and their obsession over Mickey Mouse? Damn. This is the fifth Mickey Mouse item I've found in the past two days! _

I slowly stood up and found that I had fallen over a red toy car with wicked designs.

"This wasn't out here before." I pondered, "I cleaned up right before I went to sleep."

Frowning, I took a closer look at the race car and found a note deceptively hidden in one of the windows in the toy. It was a light blue, folded in half, and so crinkled it was obvious that she had trouble getting it into the car in the first place. Taking it out and examining it, I found that Violet's signature was on the outside.

_Violet! Of all the ways too leave a note for me…sometimes I wish she were a little more normal, like our brother. He always has a collected mind and nothing ever seems to faze him. But why didn't she leave the note on the coffee table? Or on the bathroom mirror? _

I unfolded the note and found more of Violet's writing scrawled in black ink.

_Dear brother, _

_ I know what you're gonna say "Why didn't she just put it on the table?" _

_Well STFU. I figured if you tripped over it, it would help get my point across. _

_ I'm leaving. You're right; it was too dangerous to leave while the Screaming was still going on. But it stopped last night, and I figured now was as good a time as any to head out. We'll meet up "you know where" with "you know who". Once we're there we can finally get out of here! If you're wondering why I didn't take you along, it's because we're just so different. _

_I just want to just make a run for it. But you just want to take your time. That's just not my style. It would be more efficient if we went separately. _

_ I'll see you there, _

_ Violet. _

_P.S. I took the wooden baseball bat and left the gun for you. Hopefully you can figure out how to use it. Just don't waste the bullets. _

_P.S.S. I love you. _

"FUCKFUCKFUCKFUCK!

I cursed and started pacing the room trying to figure out what to do next. The note fell to the ground and was stamped on repeatedly. I ignored it.

"What am I supposed to do now?" I wailed. I walked back and forth across the room running over my options, but I kept coming up with the same conclusion. It was time to cut my losses and leave this dump. Sis was right; we'd already wasted enough time. It was time to head to the Drop Off. That's where we're hoping to get a ride out of this shithole.

_No choice then._

I grabbed my worn, red and white backpack and stuffed all my food, clothing and other necessities inside it. I kneeled next to the couch and reached under it to grab the pistol we found in the bedroom closet when we first arrived. I stood up and slipped that into my green jacket's right pocket as well. It didn't have a whole lot of ammo, I only had one extra magazine, but hopefully it would be enough. Luckily I already knew how to use it, thanks to a hunting trip I went on with my Dad a few years ago. So in the event I'm actually attacked, I'd have a sure way to defend myself. Hopefully.

I walked to the front door and looked back. _Sorry to leave this place in such a mess guys, but I just ran out of time. And I aint coming back. _

Resolved I opened the door and stepped out into the hallway, and closed the door behind me.

* * *

I gagged. The stench of decay filled the area. I could feel the death in the atmosphere, and I wasn't even outside yet. Seeing that it was silent in the hallway, I made for the stairs a few yards to my right. There were dents and blood stains all over the walls.

I reached the top of the stars and scanned the stairs for any sign of danger. _I'm starting to understand why she left without me now. She never would've had the sense to pay attention to her surroundings like this. _

The stairs, like the hallway, were soundless. However I couldn't help but notice that the stench of gore was getting stronger.

At the end of the stairs was the back lobby. I would need to reach the main lobby to get out of the building. All the other exits were blocked off. The building was huge for an apartment complex. It would take a while to reach the main doors.

It was dark, but I knew where the light switch was at the front of the room. Carefully and slowly, I sauntered over to the switch. Illumination filled the room and I looked towards the main desk.

What I saw there, I knew was something I would never forget.

Bodies were scattered everywhere. It was a miracle I didn't step on one on my way to the light switch. It looked like they'd all taken a blow to the head. I realized that they were all zombies from the Horde. They were all heaped upon each other like they'd been part of a mass brawl. This was obviously where the smell was coming from.

I saw a shock of long brown hair amongst the festering bodies. Finding this an odd occurrence among the Horde, I dared myself to move closer. The blood squelched under my black sneakers and splattered around my feet.

As I got closer I began to tell that this body was not originally a zombie before, its skin was too clear to be a zombie.

My breath caught when I finally saw its face. It was her. It was Violet.

"Violet." I whispered, "What have they done to you?"

Her head turned to face me. She was still alive, but barely.

"Leave…there are others….more powerful than the Horde…." She breathed, her eyes closed.

God she was so pale. Like a ghost from the movies. She was covered in blood, from her face to her chest, her abdomen and her now nearly bare legs. Cuts and slashes marked her once athletic form. Her skirt and turtleneck were torn to shreds and her hair was a mess. It was crazier than her worst bed head.

"What do you mean by 'others'? Violet?" I questioned, praying she wasn't gone.

Her mouth parted slowly, and I had to strain to hear what she said next.

"The…other creatures…" She gagged,"...they're different…than the…Horde."

She let out a great sigh suddenly. My eyes widened. She did not breathe back in after that.

My sister was dead.

END FLASHBACK

* * *

**A/N : Okay! Second chapter is up! A lot longer than the first one, in my opinion. **

**This story and the other story I've posted, Landon, a fic a friend of mine is writing, will be collaborating with each other, following the same story line, more or less.**

**Each fic will be following a different characters' point of view. **

**Check it out if you'd like and I hope you enjoyed this chapter! ;D **

**REVIEW!  
**


	3. Chapter 3 : The 'Domino' effect

**Back to the present…**

After that it had taken me a week to get over the incident and gain the courage to step outside, but I'd done it. I had to get moving. For real this time.

I exhaled into the chilling air around me, saddened by the memory, but determined not to give up. Violet needed me to do this. I owed it to her.

Now I just needed to decide which way was the fastest route to our supposed meeting place. It wasn't much of a meeting place. Just an impressively large cabin. I never knew builders made them that big. It was more like a cabin-styled mansion really. But that was where my siblings and I were going to meet. Though now it would just be my older brother and I.

Across the street I spotted a sign pointing to the east side of town.

_Just what I needed! The cabin's on the east side of town, right? _

Smiling, proud of myself for figuring out the next step, I stepped forward to start the daunting task of crossing the street safely. Doesn't sound too hard, right? But I knew better than to doubt those who came before, those who lived through the first weeks of the infection. Everyone warned of the dangers of being outside…and especially of going from one street to another.

Even if it was exaggerated I should be careful. Who knows what could happen? Anything could.

_There I go again. Sis was so right. Maybe I'm crazy or something, always looking too far into things. Who knows?_

I watched the street for several long minutes, listening intently. I tried to tell if the howling I kept hearing was the wind or something more sinister. I certainly hoped it was the former, but you could never be too sure.

Deciding I had stalled enough I started walking forward. Across the street I spotted a small shoe shop, hoping to snag a few extra pairs for the trip, seeing as mine were already hopelessly worn. I could even see a few holes starting to emerge at the base of my toes.

I turned around every few seconds not wanting to be taken off guard if something attacked me. I was probably being paranoid, but who says paranoia is a bad thing to have now and then?

Unfortunately, I forgot one small detail. Humans do not possess eyes in the back of their heads.

While walking backwards I felt my left heel knock into a soda can and it began to roll backward at an interestingly brisk speed.

What followed next could only be described as the 'domino' effect. The kind you only hear or see of in movies.

I turned just in time to see an orange soda can, clanging against a rusty trash barrel, which was sitting on its side. The barrel rolled hardly three inches until it hit a light post with a ping. The gray light post, which was already leaning off its foundation at a precarious angle, leaned over even farther to the ground. Gravity did the rest. It crashed to the ground and the dim light bulb shattered in an instant. It slid across the ground for a few feet. It produced a horrendous screeching tone, louder than any smoke alarm, as it scraped across the gravel. My jaw dropped, horrified at the catastrophe that I had just inadvertently caused.

A great symphony of screams and demonic howls filled the street. I could feel the vibrations through the soles of my shoes. There were a lot of them coming. I darted to the other side of the roadway, not giving a shit whether or not I was careful any more. Apparently my cautiousness from before was about to get me killed for not thinking it through.

"ShitshitshitshitSHIT!"

I scrabbled across the debris and fragmented concrete to the shoe shop's door. I pulled on the silver handles, stained with rust and most likely covered in all sort of germs. If my life wasn't in danger I'd be worrying about any possible bugs I might contract from just touching this.

But my life _was_ in danger and it was about to get a helluva lot worse.

The door was sealed shut. Locked. The doors gleamed in the light as if to mock me by saying "Entrance denied!" Or something stupid like that.

I whirled around, searching for any possible escape route. None of the other surrounding shops appeared to have an opening and there was no way I was gonna go back to the apartment building.

In simpler terms, I was screwed.

* * *

I started running down the side of the street, away from the noise, desperate for escape.

I looked over my shoulder. Sure enough, they were there. Still pretty far back, but they had to be gaining on me.

I take it back. I wasn't screwed. I was royally fucked.

I swept my gaze back in front of me, and took a right when I reached the corner. I had come into a shopping center. All sorts of stores lined the way and I searched for one with a safe house. Someplace that I could hole up inside until they passed.

"Hey kid!" A voice to my right startled me.

_Another survivor? Someone else is still alive? No way! _

I whipped around to face the speaker. It was a college kid, in his early twenties it seemed. He was wearing a green jacket with a blue shirt underneath, along with some weathered navy jeans and Nike sneakers. He stood upon the roof of a gas station, wielding a plank of wood and a handmade molotov.

"You hear those fuckers, right? Get your ass up here unless you wanna be mauled straight to hell!" He barked at me, while gesturing towards a yellow ladder on the west side of the building.

I quickly complied, definitely not wanting to be 'mauled straight to hell'.

"How's your aim?" He asked me once I was standing next to him.

"Fine…" I replied uneasily. Now that I was up close I could see that he was actually a physically fit person… even if his personality was a little rough around the edges.

"Take this then," He said as he shoved a rudimentary sling shot into my empty hands.

"What am I supposed to do with this?" I said bewildered at the prospect of stopping the horde with a mere toy.

"See those over there?" He pointed to a pile of dark green balls made of rags sitting on a few boxes behind us.

"I want you to fling a few of those behind the shops in front of us. They should lure the Horde away from us." He explained.

Confused, I shook my head. "Why would they do that? They're just rags aren't they?"

"Well yeah, but they've been dipped in Boomer bile," He said, smiling as if it was something funny.

_Boomer bile? What the hell is that? _

Shrugging I lifted the make shift weapon to my shoulders and let fly. Four balls of steaming dish rags soared through the air and disappeared behind a bike shop.

* * *

The Horde finally approached the street and we both ducked down, so as not to be seen by the creatures. They paused for a minute, and as predicted by the college student, bolted to an area far beyond the shops, a few blocks down. More than likely where the balls had landed.

A few minutes later, the man next to me sighed, stood up and stretched his arms above his head.

"Well that went well!" He grinned.

"Hmmph. So uh…" I rose next to him.

"Hmm? Yeah?" He cocked an eyebrow at me.

"What's a Boomer?" I asked, curiosity etched onto my face.

He gaped at me as if I'd grown a second head.

"You don't know what a Boomer is? How about a Hunter? Witch? Smoker?"

I shook my head at all of these. At each one his face obtained an even more incredulous expression.

"Unbelievable…and to think you've managed to survive this long without running into one," He muttered to himself.

"What? What are they?" I asked, getting impatient.

"Calm down, calm down. I'll explain but you'll have to spend the night. It's too dangerous to leave at this time of day," He said, just as irritated.

He had a point. It was already evening. Amazing how time flies when you're trying to survive. It seemed just yesterday that I'd had that final argument with Violet.

He began walking forward towards a hole in the roof that led to the inside of the station.

"Oh!" He stopped suddenly and turned around to face me. He smiled and stuck out his right hand.

"The name's James!" He properly introduced himself. "And you?" He asked.

I rubbed the back of my neck nervously, realizing that I hadn't told him anything either.

I shook his hand in a friendly manner and offered up a smile on my part as well.

"Nathan. I'm Nathan."

* * *

**AN : So our main character's name is finally revealed! Whoo. |D **

**Anyways hope you liked this chapter as well. **

**I also hope you enjoyed James! A new face in the mix!**

**This one's dedicated to foxwash(you know who you are xD) and Zelipth for continuing to read my story! :D So thanks! **

**REVIEW PLZ! ;D**


	4. Chapter 4 : The Etch  A  'Betch'

I turned onto my side for the umpteenth time.

I was uncharacteristically having a tough time staying asleep. I usually dropped unconscious once my head hit the pillow. I'm also quite a light sleeper.

However, after that long talk with James my mind was spinning in circles. I kept waking up and staring at the painted ceiling, too deep in thought to care that this might be my last chance to get some real rest before dawn broke.

"BREAKFAST!" A loud voice broke my train of thought and I opened my eyes.

James's face hovered inches above mine, his blond hair had flopped forward, obscuring the top portion of his face.

"…bah…what?" I grumbled, still stuck in dreamland.

"Come on, come on! Time to eat! We gotta get moving so hurry up and chow down." He stood up and walked back to the center of the shop.

I shock my head and sat up, taking a slow look around the gas station.

We had decided it would be safest to sleep behind the counter in the back of the store. Aisles lined the sides and a 'self-serve' table was set up in the center.

Seeing as everything was the same as it was when I dozed off, I stood up and followed James to the third aisle.

He tossed me a twinkie and a soda bottle.

I caught it and stared at him.

"_What?" Sher shomthing wrong bith it_?" His voice was muffled due to the fact he was speaking with his mouth full of his own 'breakfast'.

"Okay first of all, don't talk with your mouth full, second…you call this breakfast? It's nothing but junkfood!"

_And what if its poisoned…or rotten. Agh! There I go again, being all overly imaginative and what not. _

He rolled his eyes at me. "Well this aint exactly a breakfast diner. You don't see toast and pancakes lying about, do you? Gotta make do with what we have. It' just until we get to the grocery store."

"Mike's Grocery is right next door though. Why didn't we just go there instead of wasting time here?"

"Cuz I wanted some fucking twinkies! Now stop complaining and go see if they got some bottled water in this shindig." He stalked off, grumbling to himself all the way.

_Shindig? Jeez. He is definitely not a morning person. And who is he to order me around like that. But then again, he is the one who knows what he's doing. Me…not so much. _

I quickly found the remaining three bottles of water and hurried back to our sleeping bags in the back. What I found there was just a little bit disturbing.

"Um..just what exactly are you doing?" I asked him, a little more careful of his morning temper.

He was sitting cross-legged on the floor, playing with what looked like a child's toy.

"I tripped over it this morning. Some little kid must have left it here in all the confusion when the infection hit." He looked back at me.

"Oh…well then why are you playing with it? I mean it's for like, nine year-olds or something, right?" I crouched next to him and had a closer look. It was an Etch -a- Sketch. It almost looked brand new, the red plastic still had a shine to it and the screen wasn't smudged at all. However someone had scribbled out the 'Sketch' labeling and wrote 'Betch' in black marker above it.

"Well hey, we're bound to get bored in the safe houses along the way…and besides, it's entertaining. And look, there's a wicked motorcycle sticker on the back!" He replied in an excited voice.

Sure enough, there was a black, flaming Harley sticker on the back, over where the battery compartment would be if it had one.

_Okay I'm starting to wonder if this guy has some sort of mental deficiency or if this whole zombie apocalypse is getting to him._

I shook my head to clear my thoughts once more and stood back up. "Well, we should get going then." We packed up the rest of our things, grabbing any foods that were worth taking along, extra duffel bags, a couple flashlights, a map of the city and the surrounding forest, and James even brought the Etch-a-Sketch with.

_The freak._

_

* * *

_

The bells on the hinges jingled as the door swung open. I winced at the sound, worried that a sound louder than a pencil dropping on a glass floor would attract the horde. James had no such worries. He strolled forward, unaffected by the noise or possibility of danger, as if he owned the land. I followed him once more, keeping my eyes trained on the olive drab pack strapped to his shoulders.

We kept to the sidewalk, tiptoeing around all sorts of garbage, rubble and even a few lingering bodies. We stayed silent for the most part. We both had agreed that the less that was spoken the better it would be in the long run. Conversation led to disagreements, which led to arguments, and in turn led to anger. Anger was not something we could afford at the moment. Plus anger tended to involve a lot of noise and too much noise would attract you-know-what. Too much was at stake…well according to James anyways. Apparently his life counts as 'too much is at stake'. I don't blame him. Right now I'll we had left was our lives, any material possession we had on ourselves at the moment, and hope that we'd be able to find a way out of the city.

I'm willing to just settle on making it to the cabin in the outskirts of the city so that I could meet up with my brother.

I looked down at the sidewalk. Cracks lined the concrete and I was reminded of the old saying "Step on a crack and break your mother's back". Although I never really believed in those kind of superstitious sayings. I had enough paranoia going my way to bother with adding superstitions to the list.

We reached the door to Mike's Grocery and stopped short to find that the doors had been broken in rather forcefully. The double doors were barely hanging onto the bolts keeping them in place.

"James..?" I whispered nervously.

_What did it mean if the doors are open like that? Is there someone else alive inside? Or did the horde break into the store in search of sustenance…or worse. What if it was one of those 'special' infected James had told me about? What if_-

"Hey. Chill out. We'll go check it out and see what's up alright? No need to get so flustered over what happened to the door". He smiled down at me, easing my nerves just a little. Apparently he had noticed my fixation upon the door and guessed at what the deal was.

_Oh great, so now the guy's a psychic. How did he know what I was thinking about? Jeebus, what else does this guy know?_

"Heh. Yeah, you're right." I gave a nervous laugh and we entered casually as if we were actually going shopping. It felt weird to enter the shop and not see any people right away. I had to keep reminding myself that this was the town's grocery and not some foreign shop that I'd never seen before. But everything looked, felt, smelt, hell the tiles even sounded different under my feet. It was the strangest thing to find the town's only grocery so empty and derelict.

As we reached the first aisle it became obvious what had destroyed the door.

A blue sedan had crashed into the front aisle and completely trashed the snack section. No more chips and salsa for us, it seemed. The car was smoking and the scorch marks on the right side made it evident that it had once been on fire. The smoke coming from under the hood suggested that maybe it still was. Perhaps it's just being confined in the engine. We carefully made our way around it, and searched the rest of the store for anything of value. We packed as much as we could carry in our bags that was worth taking. We couldn't afford to over-pack nor under-pack. It wasn't certain whether or not we'd find such a jackpot of supplies later on.

Unfortunately over-packing wasn't a concern. The town's citizens had already had their shot at raiding the the store for supplies. There wasn't much left. Not much of what we were hoping for anyways. All the water was gone, as were the non perishable foods _and_ most of the coffee.

_What I wouldn't do for a cup of coffee right now. _

I was one of those kids who loved to drink coffee in their spare time. Not that that's a common thing. In fact I might be the only one who enjoys it as a pasttime, who knows. But I preferred to add spoonful upon spoonful of sugar. Coffee with tons of sugar was my kind of refreshment.

And it was all gone. Just one more comfort I would have to do without until I could get out of this shithole.

* * *

"Hey James. Come check these out!" I called James over to the table I found. It had been set up in the back of the store. On top were several pipe looking contraptions that had been laid out in rows. Some instructions had also been taped next to them stating what they were and how to use them.

"What's up?" James jogged over to the table, several bags of provisions in tow.

"I found these. The note says they're called pipe bombs. Says that they can be used to distract the horde. Kinda sounds like what you did with that Boomer bile the other day. Don't ya think?" I explained.

He picked one up and took a look. "We should take some with. What are the instructions?"

"Let's see. Twist the bottom half left until it clicks and press the red button towards the top, and then throw it in a direction away from you," I finished.

I turned to face him and saw that James had actually been _following _my instructions as I had said them.

A red light shone from the pipe bomb in James hands. I stared in horror.

"YOU WEREN'T SUPPOSED TO ACTUALLY DO IT, YOU MORON!" I yelled as a loud 'plink' sound began to generate from the device.

"Ohshi-" he started.

"Get rid of it! Now!" I cut him off.

He tossed it back towards the front of the store. The direction of the car.

"Oh no." We both voiced simultaneously. James bolted to the car immediately and I quickly grabbed a handful of the bombs before taking off as well.

A low rumbling was heard as I ran, and I immediately recognized it for what it was. It was the same rumbling I had heard yesterday when I tried to cross the street over to the shoe store. The horde was coming.

I rounded a corner and skidded to a stop when the car came into view. It was surrounded by nearly thirty zombies, all scrabbling at the windshield, trying to reach inside. No doubt the pipe bomb must've fallen inside, and now they were desperately trying to obtain the source of their increasing curiosity.

I spotted James across the way, on the other side of the car, preparing to take fire with his pistol. I opened my mouth to warn him not to fire at the car, knowing if he hit anywhere near the car it would more than likely explode. But I realized that with the pipe bomb _inside _the car…

_Well who cares if James shoots the car, it's gonna blow anyways! _

The plinking noise got louder and faster with increasing fervor. I did the only thing I could think of and ducked out of the store, running for cover. I sprinted back to the gas station, ran inside and bolted the door.

A loud explosion could be heard all throughout the square. I felt the heat from the flames and crouched low, hiding behind the counter out of sight. I prayed that the station would be able to withstand the oncoming onslaught from the horde. After all, it would be near impossible for them NOT to hear that car's detonation. You could probably even hear it back at the apartments.

_Wait…something's wrong here…_

I gasped. James was gone. I had left James behind.

"Oh my God." I breathed. There was no way I could go back now. That would be suicide. I would just have to wait it out and hope that James was able to get away in time.

* * *

**James's POV**

I stared at the writhing masses of bodies surrounding the remains of the car. That had been one hell of an explosion. I'd only ever seen stuff like that on television. It was much more exhilarating in person.

Nathan had left soon after I'd arrived at the car. That gave me the clue to take cover before the automobile blew. I had meant to follow the kid to the front door, but my path was, and still is, blocked by half a dozen aisles that had toppled over on top of each other. Luckily I still had time to crash behind a counter. I found a back door and managed to shut it behind me, seconds before the blast hit.

Now I'm peeking back inside to check out the extent of the damage. Black soot marked where the explosion took place, all around the car. Most of the other shelves and aisles had fallen over as well. No doubt from the power of the heat waves.

I closed the door and decided to head to the closest building. A tall skyscraper stood across the road. Perhaps I could find a safe house there and a place to hold out until tomorrow. It was too dangerous to go now, plus this was a perfect chance to cross the street and gain a little ground. That pipe bomb had attracted most, if not all, of the infected in the area. Most of them would probably head to the grocery and not pay too much attention to a lone human out in the road.

_Hopefully I can catch up with that kid sometime. Maybe I'll run into him at the mall or something. _

I went through my stuff, looking for a bottle of water and discovered something was missing.

"Dammit!" I cursed. I had dropped the Etch a Sketch.

_Oh man! I must have dropped it in the store or by the back door somewhere. And I was really hoping to mess around with that thing. What am I supposed to do while I wait now? _

Shrugging off the loss, I quickly made my way into the building, located the safe house in an abandoned office, and settled down to nap for a few hours. I would worry about the rest later. Though I couldn't help but worry about how much of a mess the safe house was. Furniture torn up and turned over, all the usual beef jerky was gone, and those claw marks on the walls…

* * *

_Chapter 4 is now up! This chappie has been long overdue and I'm afraid I got caught up in other things. _|D

_Anyways, Chapter 5 will hopefully be up soon as well and don't forget to check out the fic that goes along with this,_ **Landon**, _as well. :3_

**REVIEW!  :D **


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